This invention relates to limited play video tape cassettes and, more particularly, it concerns a limited play video tape cassette including a programmable microcircuit that can be programmed or reset to limit viewer access on the basis of time, a calendar period, or play count.
Conventional video tape cassettes of copyrighted prerecorded material, such as movies, typically are distributed to consumers by outright sale or by rental on a daily basis. Because such cassette can be played an unlimited number of times and unauthorized copies are easy to make with a home video cassette recorder, the owners of the copyrighted material are seriously inhibited from providing marketing alternatives in terms of pricing, release dates, and a variety of rental options.
Out of an effort to protect copyrighted material marketed through the video cassette rental business, a variety of limited play video cassettes have been devised. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,660,115 and 4,660,116 to Westfall et al disclose single play video tape cassettes including a tape erasing magnet biased so as to contact the video tape as it is wound around the take-up reel. Thus, as a movie, for example, is being viewed, the prerecorded information on the video tape is erased after it has passed beyond the play head in a video cassette recorder. Other examples of single play video tape cassettes described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,482,104 to Saito and 4,702,434 to Brauer incorporate mechanical reel locking mechanisms which prevent rewinding of the tape following a single play. Special equipment is used for resetting the reel locking mechanism and rewinding the tape. The single play tape cassette arrangement of Brauer also includes a counter which displays the number of times that the cassette has been reset.
Such single play video tape cassettes do not allow the viewer to stop the tape, rewind and review any portion of the material on the tape. Further, single play video tape cassettes which can be reset for additional playback require physical inspection of each video tape cassette in order to assure control over the number of times the cassette is played.
Video tape cassettes containing electronic play count monitoring arrangements are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,475,222 to Egendorf and 4,593,337 to Leone. These arrangements provide for the monitoring of the number of times that the tape is played during a rental period, for example. As such, the rental fee can be based on the number of plays and tape swapping or multiple copying is deterred. These monitoring arrangements keep track of the play count but do not limit the number of times that each cassette can be played. Thus, physical inspection of each video tape cassette is again required for effective control over the protected material.
In addition, a limited play video tape cassette having a mechanical counting and reel locking mechanism which provides for more than a single play is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,584 to Chevalier et al. The locking mechanism prevents rotation of the reels within the video tape cassette after a predetermined number of plays. The locking mechanism can be reset by contacting a reset abutment on a notched locking wheel with a rod or pin. When the locking mechanism of Chevalier et al is reset, it is reset for the total number of plays corresponding to the number of notches on the locking wheel. In order to change the number of times that a particular cassette can be played, the cassette must be dismantled and the notched locking wheel replaced with one having a greater or lesser number of notches.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for an improved limited play video tape cassette which adopts the construction of a standard video tape cassette, which provides for a different number of limited plays or viewing period depending on the particular marketing scheme desired, which is reprogrammed or reset without disassembly of the cassette, can provide play-count or hours of operation information as needed, and renders the tape non-viewable when tampered with by an unauthorized person.